Tact(less)
by Raven-DarkBlue
Summary: Kokoroyomi has never been normal, but his Alice does let him know some interesting things...


**Title:** Tact(less)  
**Series:** Gakuen Alice  
**Length:** 1188 words, oneshot.  
**Character/pairing:** Kokoroyomi-centric, some OCs for his family and the usual elementary shenanigans group. Sliiiiiiight Natsume/Mikan.  
**Rating/warnings:** Rated PG for mentions of panties, since I only have one plot device when it comes to Natsume/Mikan interaction. Vague spoilers for stuff around volume 8, but you can read it without knowing and you won't care.  
**Summary:** Kokoroyomi has never been normal, but his Alice does let him know some interesting things...

Back when he was younger, before he'd even heard of things like 'Alices' and 'mind-reading' and 'psychosomatic accelerated brainwave acceptance', Kokoroyomi lived with his mother and three sisters. Even then, he wasn't really 'normal' - his power was still developing, evolving, and while he was far from being able to properly see thought patterns and images, he could occasionally pick up on stray thoughts. They sailed through the air like static, popping into his own mind without invitation and coming out his mouth at extremely inopportune times.

"Yes, they do," he told his eldest sister, Chisa, as she eyed the fit of her new pants in the mirror. Her quizzical expression turned furious in an instant, and the lump on his head ached for three days.

"No, he thinks you're weird," he advised his middle sister, Kyoko, who was hanging out the window and waving at one of her upperclassmen, a dreamy smile on her face. He'd never figured her for the vicious type, but the kick she aimed at his shin left quite a bruise.

"Actually, you failed," he corrected his youngest sister, Hikaru, when she told their mother she'd done well on her last Math test.

Chinese burns, he reflected later, really, _really_, hurt.

His family, although quick to anger, were slow in other ways, and they didn't really understand the nature of his particular gift until he interrupted an otherwise quiet dinner with an incredulous, "Are you really getting married again, Mom?"

As she hadn't accepted Hanazono-san's proposal at that point, the remark was, to say the least, rather surprising. Once she'd calmed down, however (and reassured the girls that even if things did change, yes they could all keep their bedrooms) it came to her attention that this was hardly an isolated incident, and it was entirely possible that her son wasn't _quite_ normal.

"Of course I'm not," Kokoroyomi agreed, sticking out his tongue and touching the tip of it to his nose.

And so, at the tender age of nine, Kokoroyomi was shipped off to the prestigious Alice Academy. Of course he missed his family (he wondered how they were doing now) but the multitude of fresh minds and the sheer variety of new thoughts were enough to keep him occupied and entertained for hours on end.

The teachers, he discovered immediately, were not impressed by his ability to recount their most embarrassing moments. Narumi-sensei returned Alice with Alice and after three blackouts, Kokoroyomi was forced to give up. Jinno-sensei gave him a cold look and thought quite deliberately that should Kokoroyomi ever mention his feelings on _that person_ he would wish he had never been born.

As Kokoroyomi quite enjoyed life, he wisely decided to heed Jinno-sensei's warning.

He found it safer, therefore, to listen in on his classmates instead, and it helped that they all had such interesting reactions. (It never once occured to him that thoughts were, by right, private, and that he should exercise tact in certain situations).

But it was enlightening, slipping in to Shouda Sumire's mind as she catalogued the twenty-seven reasons why Hyuuga Natsume was the most wonderful boy in the world. He told her that he didn't agree with numbers six, fourteen and twenty-one, but instead of the appreciation he'd expected, she went red and abruptly sprouted ears and whiskers, slashing at him with very sharp claws.

He ran away as fast as he could.

It was amusing, tapping in to Noga Ruka's memories of happier times, living with his mother and frolicking with the neighbourhood animals. Kokoroyomi asked him once where his mother came from, because her features were, although beautiful, decidedly un-Japanese. Ruka went very red, then very pale, and then his rabbit leapt out of his arms and bit Kokoroyomi on the cheek.

He didn't ask again.

It was intriguing, seeing what went on behind Imai Hotaru's cool blue eyes - the calculations and machinations that never stopped, complex equations and scientific formulae jostling with mercenary assessments of people and situations and the varying benefits of each. He expressed admiration at one point, telling her how impressed he was that she could fit so much into her mind, and for a long, strange second, she thought nothing at all. And then she showed him the blueprints for her most recent invention, and said, in a clipped tone, that the Horse-Deer gloves would really, _really_ hurt.

He believed her.

Probably the most interesting of all was the boy of the twenty-seven reasons himself - a mind that held darkness and power and a disturbingly keen intellect. Natsume's mind was well-organised and guarded, and he was clever to the point of being able to tune out for the ordinary lessons that took up most of the day. He was also sensitive to Alices being used against him, as Kokoroyomi learned the first time he decided to eavesdrop on Natsume's thoughts.

"Oi," he said, as Kokoroyomi skimmed the top layer of his mind, ignoring such obvious things as _this substitute teacher has no idea_ and _I wish Shouda would shut up_.

"Oi," he said again, as Kokoroyomi dove deeper, to a level where thoughts fragmented and became images - he saw a village, a hill and heard _help, Ruka, friendship._

"Oi," he said very sharply, as Kokoroyomi went further still, to a very dark place, with only a single, resounding thought -

_aoiaoiaoiaoiaoiaoiaoiaoiaoiaoiaoiaoiaoi_

- and then his desk burst into flames.

Kokoroyomi learned a very important lesson that day - don't mess with Hyuuga Natsume.

There was one person who it seemed would never learn that lesson, however.

When the new student had arrived - quite obviously overwhelmed, as all newcomers invariably were - he'd been pleasantly surprised to find she had a high mouth-to-brain ratio, which meant she generally spoke before thinking. It was a refreshing trait that not enough of his fellow students seemed to have and made her thoughts - when she had them - all the more amusing. What was even more entertaining than her character quirk, however, were the reactions his classmates had to her presence: annoyance, dislike, anger and...interest?

"And that's why you're an enemy of all girls!" shrieked Mikan, jabbing her finger in Natsume's general direction. His face registered only practised boredom but his thoughts were anything but - he was, Kokoroyomi noted with some astonishment, actually _happy_. Or, he amended, as happy as Natsume ever let himself be. No one at the Academy was quite normal, but Natsume's personality in particular was really something else.

Natsume shrugged. "I'm not the one who's into exhibitionism. Stop showing everyone your panties if you're going to get so angry when people happen to see them."

"Showing! Angry! See them!" Mikan's head contorted disturbingly and her mouth fell open with a loud _clank_. She recovered instantly and snapped it shut again. "I do not show people my panties! You are a creep! A pervert! A molester!"

Apparently running out of insults, Mikan satisfied herself with huffing her fury at a seemingly bored Natsume.

Kokoroyomi, privy to both their thoughts, grinned to himself. It was a shame, really, that they couldn't each hear what the other was thinking. Of course, he _could_ tell them -

Natsume narrowed his eyes at him.

- but then again, maybe not.

END

First fic in the fandom for over a year now - well, this _will_ be interesting. :)


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